Page:Ruffhead - The Statutes at Large, 1763.djvu/29

Rh excepting the first concerning the Judges Oath, though not to be found on the Parliament Rolls of the respective Kings, are yet to be seen at large on the Statute Rolls. of these Years: And indeed they are all, except the Judges Oath, printed in Mr. Cay Edition, ''Ex Rot. in Turr. Lond''. Concerning the Judges Oath, Prynne remarks farther, that it was not printed in but before the Parliament: And from several subsequent Statutes, which take Notice of this Oath, he presumes, not without Reason, that it was of Record, though not now to be found.

As to the Acts mentioned by Lord Hale, his Lordship saith, with his usual Candour and Caution, that they are not of Record, that he knows of: And, from the Note underneath, the Reader will perceive, that the learned Judge had good Reason to speak with Diffidence. Nevertheless, as his Lordship and others have observed, it is no Impeachment of the Validity of an antient Statute, that it cannot to be found upon Record: And it has been held, that nul tiel Record cannot be pleaded to the Allegation of any such Statute: For an Act of Parliament made within Time of Memory, loseth not its Force, because not extant on Record: Since, of general Acts of Parliament, the Courts of Common Law are bound to take notice without pleading of them; and such Acts shall never be put to be tried by the. Record, upon an Issue of nul tiel Record, but they shall be tried by the Court, who are to use, for their Information, antient Copies, Transcripts, Books, Pleadings, and Memorials: For, if the Authority of a public Statute, could not be maintained without the Original Record, it would be in the Power of any one, who could destroy such Record, in Effect to repeal the Statute itself. Therefore suceh Defects are salved by traditional and universal Reception.

As there are some Statutes however in Print, which are not to be found upon Record, so there are several upon Record, which have never yet been printed. Lord Coke has enumerated many of this Kind, but the Reader will meet with Vol. I.